Referring to FIGS. 1, 2a and 2b, an illustrative embodiment of a conventional code division multiple access/high data rate (CDMA/HDR) communication network 10 may include a packet data service node (PDSN) 12 that is operably coupled to the Internet 14 and a base station controller (BSC) 16 that is operably coupled to access points (APs)18a, 18b, and 18c. Access terminals (ATs) 20a, 20b, and 20c in turn may be operably coupled to one or more of the APs 18a, 18b, and 18c. 
As will be recognized by persons having ordinary skill in the art, the term CDMA/HDR communication network generally refers to a wireless communication network that typically utilizes a combination of time division multiple access (TDMA) and CDMA techniques. In an illustrative embodiment, each communication channel is shared among several users, but on an as-needed basis rather than a fixed time slot as in TDMA. An example of a CDMA/HDR communications network is the wireless communication network available from Qualcomm, Inc. that, in an illustrative embodiment, provides a 2.4 Mbps peak data rate in a standard 1.25 MHZ CDMA bandwidth.
During operation of the network 10, in an illustrative embodiment, an active set 22 of APs may communicate with the AT 20a utilizing a wireless forward communication link 24 and a wireless reverse communication link 26. In an illustrative embodiment, at any given time period, only one of the APs in the active set 22 may communicate with the AT 20a in the forward communication link 24. By contrast, in the reverse communication link 26, the AT 20a may communicate with one or more of the APs in the active set 22.
Furthermore, during operation of the network 10, in an illustrative embodiment, in the forward communication link 24, the APs 18 may transmit a power control signal, a pilot signal, and/or a data payload to the ATs 20 using a power control channel 24a, a pilot channel 24b, and/or a data payload 24c channel, respectively. As will be recognized by persons having ordinary skill in the art, the power control signal will typically be transmitted using a medium access control (MAC) channel, and the data payload will typically be transmitted using a traffic/control channel. In an illustrative embodiment, the power control signal controls the power of the signals transmitted by the corresponding AT 20. Thus, in this manner, the power level of signals transmitted by a particular AT 20 is controlled by one or more of the APs 18. In an illustrative embodiment, in the reverse communication link 26, the ATs 20 may transmit data rate control signals to the APs 18 using a data rate control channel 26a. In an illustrative embodiment, the data rate control signals control the rate of data transmitted by the corresponding AP 18 to a particular AT 20 as a function of the carrier to interference ratio (C/I) for the pilot signal transmitted by the corresponding AP to the particular AT. Thus, in this manner, the rate of data transmission from a particular AP 18 to a particular AT 20 is controlled as a function of the calculated C/I for the pilot signal 24b that was transmitted from the particular AP 18 to the particular AT 20.
Conventional CDMA/HDR networks 10 suffer from a number of limitations. For example, as a practical matter, an AP 18 can only provide power control and/or pilot signals to about 59 ATs 20 at a time. Furthermore, since the ATs 20 may also be communicating with multiple APs 18, as a practical matter, an AP 18 can typically only provide power control and/or pilot signals to about 40 ATs 20 at a time. Thus, there is a physical limit to the number of ATs that can be controlled by an AP 18 during normal operation.
In addition, during typical operation of the network 10, not all of ATs 20 may require transmission of data at high transmission rates as is typically provided in a conventional CDMA/HDR network. Thus, the total resources of the communication network 10 may be inefficiently utilized.
The present invention is directed to improving the efficiency of utilization in CDMA/HDR communication networks.